


like a lightning in my heart

by evanescent



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: 5+1 Things, Fluff, M/M, Minor Injuries, Non-Linear Narrative, these two are so adorable i wanna punch things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-16
Updated: 2014-03-16
Packaged: 2018-01-15 23:50:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1323868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evanescent/pseuds/evanescent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five times Kuroko and Kagami kissed and one time they didn't, but things went cute anyway.</p>
            </blockquote>





	like a lightning in my heart

**Author's Note:**

> Generally speaking these are out of order on purpose and the numbers in brackets are referring to chronological order (the earliest shot is close to the end of their first year at Seirin and the latest takes time somewhere during the second.)

(ii.)

"How come you never call me by my first name?"

Kagami decided it didn’t hurt to ask now; he was sitting on the couch in his apartment and surfing through the channels on the TV, looking for some basketball match. He had, quite literally, more than half of the available sports channels and he couldn’t find a single game at this time. What a bullshit.

Kuroko looked up from the book he was reading, his head in Kagami’s lap. “It would be impolite.”

Out of all answers, he should have expected this one. “But that’s what people do. When they are, you know, dating.” This fact was still slipping out of his concepts of reality and Kuroko’s still expression didn’t really help, so Kagami continued lamely, “Like. It’s about the intimacy. And. All these other things.” He threw his hands in the air, still holding remote in one of them, almost sending it flying through the living room. “Nevermind — forget I asked.”

Kuroko’s gaze returned to his book, but not before saying, “To be fair, Kagami-kun doesn’t call me by my given name too.”

Well, the point. The only people Kagami could think of to call Kuroko by his name, except for the family, were Momoi, Aomine and Akashi what was understable, taking their past and everything. (Although, he couldn’t help but wince at the thought of Akashi. It’s been awhile since the thing with scissors at the Winter Cup, or any other dangerous incident including Rakuzan’s captain, but still. He wasn’t particularly high among Kagami’s favourites for various reasons.)

"Would you like me to?" he asked instead and made a face when Nigou suddenly appeared next to his stretched legs, wanting to set himself on his ankles. "Why did I even let your dog here in the first place," he complained, nudging the pet away with his foot.

Kuroko gave him a disapproving look; afterwards, he seemed to weigh the possible outcomes. “People will talk,” he commented, putting the book down on his chest.

Kagami shrugged, playing with Kuroko’s hair. “It’s not like they don’t already.”

It probably wasn’t so true though. They’ve been together for almost a month now and they didn’t really act much differently at school or during the practices — at least, not in his feeling. It’s not like they were keeping it a secret, but they didn’t announce it with a freaking transparent either.

"I think Izuki-senpai knows," Kuroko shared a suspicion.

Kagami raised one eyebrow. “Really? Hey, it would explain a lot.” Like, for example, why Izuki stopped with the couple jokes and moved to Mitobe and Koganei instead. “He has Eagle’s Eye after all.”

"Eagle’s Eye doesn’t work like this."

"I know, I know." He idly tapped his fingers against the cover of Kuroko’s book. "Kiyoshi seems to have noticed, too," he added a bit annoyed. "I swear that after one of the practices, he walked to me with that dumb wide smile of his, patted me on the back that I almost fall over and said something about finding joy in something other than basketball, or something along these lines."

Kuroko didn’t seem surprised. ”Kiyoshi-senpai is more perceptive than most people give him credit for.” He paused, and added, “The same could be said about Kise-kun.”

"No way, he figured us out too?" Kagami suddenly felt something clicking. "Ah, now all these texts he sent me after our street game last week make sense." They contained of a lot of emoticons and capital letters, so he decided to ignore them, labelling them as typical Kise.

"Kagami-kun wears his heart upon his sleeve, what is not a bad thing, but sometimes makes him very easy to read," Kuroko pointed out.

Actually, Kagami could say that he’s learnt Kuroko wasn’t that unreadable with his expressions as it seemed at first, but this _Kagami-kun_ brought them back to what the conversation was originally about.

"My bad," he said, leaning down abruptly but slowly, "but that’s the boyfriend you have. Tetsuya." He kissed Kuroko, tasting the sound of his name and lips — and both were great, actually.

He pulled out just when Kuroko made this humming noise Kagami particularly liked. He said something under his breath. “Sorry, I didn’t catch that, can you repeat?”

Kuroko drew himself up, ending up sitting in Kagami’s lap, the book sliding down on the couch. “I said that one could do with a more despicable boyfriend,” he answered, clinging to Kagami’s shirt, “than Taiga.”

There was something about the way his name sounded on Kuroko’s lips that made Kagami want to kiss him again, but at this moment Nigou jumped on the couch and placed himself between them, his muzzle getting dangerously close to Kagami’s face.

"Damn it," he cried out, trying to avoid too much physical contact. "Take him away from me! I won’t let Nigou lick my face or anything gross like this."

"Beggars can’t be choosers, Kagami-kun." Kuroko’s smile was slightly too innocent as he petted his dog. "Please come to terms with him finally."

Sometimes Kagami forgot that dating Kuroko also meant spending even more time with his dog. _Why is this my life_ , he thought to himself and sighed, defeated, when Nigou climbed up and found a spot to lay down — this place was crook in Kagami’s neck. All of this was accompanied by Kuroko’s bright smile.

...

(v.)

He wasn’t sure who called Kagami, but noted, still a little dizzy, that if something like this happened again, he should do it himself. It would spare a lot of misunderstandings.

"Tetsu, Satsuki is dragging here your dumb boyfriend," Aomine informed him, standing in the doorframe of the hospital room and side-eyeing the corridor from the level unreachable for most people. Then he frowned. "Actually, it’s pretty much the other way."

In answer, Kuroko just sighed, sliding down the bed to sit on the edge of it and wondering if getting up was out of his reach at this moment.

"Don’t even think about it, idiot." Aomine glared at him. "Or I will actually tell Kagami that you’ve got a brain concussion."

"It’s a minor one." Kuroko blinked up. "And you wouldn’t dare, Aomine-kun."

The called just raised one eyebrow, like saying _Try me_ , so Kuroko resigned. Then, quite remarkably, Aomine refrained himself from calling Kagami out on his rather impolite behavior towards Momoi and moved to let them inside the room.

"Tetsuya." In the matter of three seconds Kagami managed to ignore everybody, cross the room to his bed and kneel down, catching Kuroko’s bandaged hands with his. "Are you hurt badly?" he asked in a tightened voice, with one of the most painful expressions Kuroko has ever seen on his face and it made his heart beat with fury because Kagami should never, _never_ look that hurt.

It took him a moment to remember that he’s the cause of this worry and he fought off another sigh.

Kuroko shook his head, what was a mistake because it sent half of the room spinning. “No, just bruises and scratches.” For a crash of the bus it really could have been worse. “Akashi-kun has a dislocated shoulder, though.”

Kagami murmured something that sounded as _I don’t care_ , still very tensed. With the corner of his eye, Kuroko noticed a small smile Momoi gave them as she and Aomine left the room, going probably to Akashi’s.

When they were alone, Kuroko freed one of his hands to place it on Kagami’s cheek. It was a gesture that caused him to break out.

"Don’t ever do that again," Kagami rasped, burying his face in Kuroko’s lap. "Picking up the goddamn phone to hear that you were in a serious accident and ended up unconscious in a hospital was —" He took a shaking breath. "Never do that again."

Kuroko let it stay like this for a moment; then he put the other of his palms on the side of Kagami’s face, causing him to look up.

"You shouldn’t believe in everything Kise-kun says, especially since he has a tendency to exaggerate," he reminded his boyfriend softly. "I lost consciousness just for several seconds. Midorima-kun is much more reliable source of information." He brushed his thumb over Kagami’s cheekbone. "What I’m trying to say is that I’m not dying or anything like this. I’m sorry I made you worry." He concluded with a light kiss pressed onto Kagami’s lips.

Eventually, Kagami sighed in a way that meant anger and worry, as well as other bottled up feelings, dissolved so it was a good thing, as Kuroko felt the tension dropping. (Though the kiss itself could have been a little too much because he again felt dizzy.)

"Now, get back to bed, I don’t know the drill, but you’re supposed to be lying down and not moving, right? " He was getting up from his knees, pushing him lightly into bed again, to what Kuroko obeyed.

Kagami kept fussing around him for a moment more, muttering, “But honestly, that’s what happens when I leave you for two days? You hang out with your freak friends and end up in a hospital.”

It didn’t sound hostile, but not very fond either. That may be the reason Kagami jumped, hearing the familiar voice speaking suddenly from the direction of doorframe.

"Be careful who you call a freak, Kagami." Kuroko saw a glimpse of Akashi in a wheelchair, with his left arm immobilized. "It may bounce back at you one day," he added before disappearing further in the corridor.

Kagami slumped into the bed, sitting on the edge. “I will never get used to them,” he admitted with a groan.

Kuroko looked at him fondly and laid his head down on Kagami's shoulder. “I think you could have something similar about me in the beginning of our acquaintance.”

"Well, yeah. But it’s not like I’m gonna end up dating them." Kagami tangled their fingers together. "I have enough of a roller coaster with you."

"I will take it as a compliment," Kuroko decided at last.

...

(iv.)

Sometimes the desire to kiss Kuroko while they were in school or during the practice was so strong that Kagami had to physically refrain himself from doing so. 

Today was that day and he blamed a chain of events for creating such situation. They were having exams the whole week so it meant, much to Kagami’s agony, no basketball and no making out. (Kuroko was actually very strict about the second one, giving him light, quick kisses just after the study sessions and pulling out before Kagami had a chance to react. This little shit.) Just today, during the practice, he could let it all out. Several days without basketball seemed to drag for eternity; maybe that’s why the practice felt so good, both gratifying and full of effort.

Kuroko looked like Kagami felt — fired up, sparkling with energy and motivation, like all the missing pieces were finally falling into the right place.

 _Damn_ , Kagami thought, _my boyfriend is hot_. He really wanted — needed — to make up for the lack of kissing.

When the practice was over, Riko made the two of them clear the court since “they both played so swiftly and were surely still full of energy”. It made some sense, taking the fact that senpais were busy all the time with their final year and everything, but at the other hand, hey, what about the freshmen. He wasn’t sure whether to curse her for that or thank her. Sometimes he didn’t quite know what to make of the coach.

The team left the gym and Kagami turned to Kuroko, a smirk on his face, saying in a seductive voice (at least he hoped it was his seductive voice, it’s been months, but he still didn’t figure it out), “Hey, wanna —” but he didn’t get a chance to finish because Kuroko was already pulling him down by the shirt and kissing.

Well, sometimes Kuroko was quicker to act than Kagami.

The kiss was daring from the start and he completely gave into, pulling Kuroko closer. The relief that came after longing was as good as after playing basketball earlier today, if not better.

When they parted for a few inches, Kagami, still trying to catch his breath, whispered into Kuroko’s ear, “You really are a shit.”

"I have no idea what Kagami-kun is talking about." He didn’t see Kuroko’s face, but the lips that pressed another kiss onto his cheek felt like they were curved into a smile . "After all, Kagami-kun wasn’t the only one who became impatient with the lack of kissing."

And before he could think of a snarky remark, their lips met again, the world shrinking to this gym and tiny person in Kagami’s arms. They were both sweaty and usually Kuroko bailed on him in such situations, telling him to go shower first because he “isn’t going to kiss with stinky Kagami-kun”; today though, he didn’t seem to mind. Actually, most people probably would be scandalized to find out how clingy and sneaky Kuroko could be, sweaty or not. (Kagami was still catching himself surprised at times.)

The best part, however, was still to come. Kagami accidentally slipped, possibly because of all the sweat on the floor, and ended up banging his ass and back against the ground, pulling Kuroko with himself. It didn’t hurt too much, but gave him an idea. Before his boyfriend could do anything sneaky, Kagami swung their positions gently, landing on the top.

Kuroko’s face expressed disbelief and then slight annoyance, to which Kagami grinned and took a chance. He kissed Kuroko again, but the touch of their lips didn’t last long, as he moved to his jaw and then lower.

"Kagami-kun." He was running slow, deliberate kisses down Kuroko’s neck. It made the other teen growl in a way that was sending vibrates through Kagami’s body.

"Taiga." Ah, there it was. Kagami smiled with a sense of triumph, letting the pace to slow down a little. His heart was pounding in a way equal to during a basketball game.

Their breaths were so tangled, almost swallowing each other that they didn’t really hear the door opening, so it startled them both, the coach’s voice.

"When you horny second years get it over with, do clear the court afterwards. And don’t forget that during the next practice you can end up on the floor as well, but it would probably include, apart from sweat, a lot of tears and maybe some blood from the overwork."

And just with that, she was gone.

Kagami blinked a few times and eventually closed his eyes, bending his forehead against Kuroko’s. “You know she was actually serious.”

"Yes."

"We’re so going to die."

"…Yes."

...

(i.)

It was a late afternoon when they were coming back from the practice.

Kuroko was lingering a little behind, staring at Kagami’s tiredly slumped shoulders, just partly focusing on what he was saying. That may be the reason he ultimately tripped on something and started to fall forward.

"And then I told him he can shove his dumb — hey, _hey_!” Kagami caught him by the elbow and gently yet firmly steadied him in place. “Are you okay? Aren’t you feeling dizzy or something? The coach gave us quite a beating today.”

"No, thank you, I’m fine." Kuroko looked up at Kagami’s face. "I just wasn’t looking under my feet."

He probably stared a little too hard because Kagami blushed and let go of his elbow, muttering, “Gee, you’re so clumsy. Pay more attention.”

Kuroko was close to saying that he had actually paid attention and came to interesting conclusions, but instead he decided to continue walking beside Kagami and silently putting things in order.

He specialized himself in reading people, taking this ability into his daily routine, even outside the basketball; with time, it became kind of a habit. However, he didn’t expect to start being confused by somebody he has know for months, and especially not by his light.

The thing with Kagami was — he was _too_ easy to read since the first time Kuroko met him. This kind of temper and way of being put into this kind of person couldn’t really be helped; every change in his eyes, face, voice — it was easy to catch, analyze and take proper actions. After a while, it became something effortless to do, even though Kagami kept surprising him, usually in the best of ways.

But at some point or the other, Kuroko noticed that Kagami either fitted his patterns completely or acted out of the blue.

It never, almost never, happened in the game — their partnership was swift as ever. But outside the court it just _kept_ happening, like Kagami hanging out in the library to talk about basketball and helping him with putting the books back at higher shelves or making speeches about Kuroko’s poor eating habits and it was confusing, but he was pretty sure it was even more confusing for Kagami himself.

To be precise, for Kuroko it was confusing until it wasn’t. The realization was smooth and sweet, filling him with quiet joy.

But it was still something to be done about.

"Are you even listening to me?" Kagami sounded irritated.

Kuroko paused; rays of slowly setting sun blinding him a little. His partner stopped as well.

"No, I wasn’t."

Kagami let out a suffering sigh. “It was a rhetorical question, or whatever.” He took a few steps back, catching Kuroko by the sleeve of his sweatshirt, as to pull him forward. “You sure you didn’t hit your head during the practice or anything? You’re acting even more weird than usually.”

It was much easier than it would be most of the time, to take unsuspecting Kagami by the hand and pull him down. Actually, their lips met halfway since Kuroko unconsciously stood on his tiptoes — something he planned to avoid, but well, nevermind. At first, the kiss was abrupt and chaotic, kind of like struggling for balance, but after a moment Kagami gave in, visibly relaxing and reducing the distance between them.

"Very nice," Kuroko said when they parted, though it seemed inadequate, taking the fact how fast his heart was beating. "I wouldn’t think Kagami-kun is such a good kisser, especially caught off guard."

"You’re so —" Kagami, quite pink in cheeks, shook his head. "Damn it. I guess now I really have no other choice than to manage with you." That was what he said, in a strangely relieved voice.

Kuroko only nodded, not even trying to hide a smile.

...

(iii.)

"It’s only a week, maybe a few days more. You’re going to be fine, right?"

"Of course. I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself," Kuroko answered in a sleepy voice that was also close to be called grumpy. "Give my greetings to Alex-san."

Kagami would actually argue on the first matter, but doing so in the early morning on the airport while waiting for the plane to Los Angeles didn’t seem like a good idea, so he just nodded. Also, he kept gazing at his boyfriend, trying to determine something.

"Shouldn’t Kagami-kun be looking out for Himuro-san?" Kuroko fought off a yawn; streaks of untamed bed hair falling on his forehead, but still not covering the slight frown between the eyebrows. "Your aircraft clearance starts soon."

"What? Oh, no worries, Tatsuya always makes it on time." Maybe it was because Kuroko had to wake up this early. Kagami knew he was shit at this. "Hey, maybe Murasakibara will drag along, you guys could get a proper breakfast afterwards."

Kuroko let out a quiet huff. “It would be nice, but rather not happening. Getting up this early would require too much effort from Murasakibara-kun, even if it was for Himuro-san.”

He thought about it for a moment. “Yeah, probably,” he agreed and then grinned. “But you somehow made it.”

"It was an exception made especially for Kagami-kun."

"Aw, you always know how to make me feel special," Kagami commented, joking just partly because it was actually true. Embarrassment, surprises and strangeness often followed Kuroko and everything about him, but they made ordinary things unique. It was both curse and blessing, but he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Kagami realized he was untypically poetic at almost seven am. Mornings always had this effect, blame him.

Kuroko’s face still expressed some frown as he sighed sleepily and put his arms around Kagami’s waist, burying his face in the texture of thick sweatshirt.

"I will miss Kagami-kun," Kuroko murmured into the sweatshirt. "Please come back soon."

He smiled widely, wrapping his arms around Kuroko’s back and resting his chin of the top of his boyfriend’s head. “You’re so clingy,” he said affectionately. “I can’t believe I will be free of this for a week.” This roughly translated to _I will miss you too_.

Then Kagami put a small distance between them and leaned down to kiss Kuroko for the first time this morning. He could definitely say it made his boyfriend less grumpy and — also important — less sleepy.

Hell, maybe one day he will make a morning person out of Kuroko. Maybe.

...

(+vi.)

Kuroko could hear the raindrops falling and sliding down against the windows of Kagami’s apartment. The afternoon was cold and slow; they were watching quite a funny comedy, flapped on the couch. For somebody from the outside, their positions must have seemed as highly uncomfortable; a pile of tangled limbs with a blanket carelessly put around them, but oddly, Kuroko didn’t mind. He has learnt to like every position if he got to place his head on Kagami’s chest. Now he could feel the warm breath tickling the top of his head and it was nice.

At some moment, Kuroko suddenly found himself with gaze turned from the film to face his boyfriend. Kagami was leaning down to kiss him. He was actually used to it; they both had a habit of stealing kisses during the talks or while doing their regular activities. It was only natural at this point.

But then, there was a knock on the front door. They froze, faces away from each other just a few inches.

"Are you expecting someone?" Kuroko asked.

Kagami made a confused face, which was close to his regular expression. “No one I’m aware of… Weird.” They heard knocking again and he sighed. “Well, I guess I gotta answer.” Kagami, quite unexpectedly, smooched him in the nose instead of lips, much to Kuroko’s annoyance, and went to see the guest.

The idea of staying under the cosy blanket was really appealing, but Kuroko was also slightly curious to find out who was an unexpected interrupter. He heard Kagami’s voice, strangely high-pitched, and somebody else speaking, in a lower and cheerful tone, a female voice.

Curiosity killed the cat, but it came over the laziness and Kuroko kicked out the blanket to follow the way to the door.

"Well, you should’ve called me, at least, I’d come to pick you up at the airport…"

"Oh, it’d be troubling and I wanted this to come as a surprise, dad was supposed to come along, but something in the work occurred," the woman was speaking fast and with heavy American accent. It took her a moment to notice Kuroko standing in the door frame. "Oh!" She seemed startled a little, as expected, but she gave Kuroko a welcoming smile. "Taiga, you didn’t tell me you had a guest." 

It was actually the first time Kuroko met Kagami’s mother, taking the fact his parents lived in States and everything. But just by a single look he could tell how similar to each other they were; apparently, Kagami had taken most of his characteristic and straightforward way of being from her rather than his father. There was something about her honest, open face and tiny height (with some sort of disbelief, he realized the woman was shorter than him, even in the heels).

He took a few steps further in. “Hello. My name is Kuroko Tetsuya, I’m…” he hesitated, a little unsure. Since it was an unexpected first meeting, he didn’t want to make it awkward by introducing himself as somebody more than a friend. He wasn’t sure how much Kagami was telling his parents about his life, being thousands of miles away from them most of the year.

Kagami looked affronted, but before he had a chance to speak up, his mother’s eyes lit up and she called out, “Ah! Finally! I’ve been looking forward to meeting you since Taiga told me he has a boyfriend.” She walked over and gave Kuroko some sort of quick, sincere hug. Then she put her arm around his. “I can’t say that he told me so much about you, though, sometimes he’s so clumsy with words and easily gets flustered —”

" _Mom_." Now Kagami’s face was the reddest Kuroko has ever seen.

He smiled; a pleasant feeling of warmth setting across his chest. “He does,” he agreed, “but I think it’s kind of cute. Apart from the times it’s troubling, of course.”

Kagami’s mother laughed and nodded in agreement. Her son just let out a defeated sigh and shuffled into the kitchen to make something for dinner.

**Author's Note:**

> (To clear things up in the v. Miracles spent the afternoon together and after the meeting Kuroko was coming back home and Akashi wanted to go to his favourite library in Tokyo so they took the same bus, Midorima was supposed to ride with them, but he stayed too long with Murasakibara in the candy shop and the bus left without him. But hey it was for better since literally at the end of the street it got into a crash. (Midorima's horoscope for this day advised him to keep close to Libras, as for Cancers it could have been a bad day. Oha Asa is never wrong.)) 
> 
> I don't know probably things like these have been written already, but I love these two so much and I needed to do something about it. Also KnB seemes to have taken over my writing these days so you can expect more from me for this dumb basketball anime. (Why is this my life, Kagami isn't the only one wondering.)


End file.
